


After Hours

by WriteItSmall (scribblemyname)



Series: Be Compromised 2014 Promptathon [11]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Community: be_compromised, Companionship, F/M, Food, Friendship, Insomnia, Jet Lag, Late-Night Snacks, Natasha's Early Days At SHIELD, Partnership, Pre-Relationship, Slice of Life, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-12 06:23:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2098875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/pseuds/WriteItSmall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They get back from their tenth mission together, and they are still on South African time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Hours

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inkvoices](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkvoices/gifts).



> Prompt by inkvoices: [Early SHIELD days or at least pre-Avengers days, when both Natasha and Clint are living on base or at a SHIELD facility, they have insomnia. Cue late night wanderings, food, tv shows, talking, companiable silence... Sometimes other people who're awake as well maybe.](http://be-compromised.livejournal.com/412023.html?thread=7852407#t7852407)

They haven't been partners long, and there's still something new and tentative about the way Clint and Natasha interact. Cautious. They don't want to accidentally break the fragile bond they are forming.

They get back from their tenth mission together, and they are still on South African time. Natasha goes to bed and pretends to get some rest for the first two hours before she finally capitulates and throws on a generic SHIELD t-shirt with the intention of heading to the gym. She never gets there though. She's distracted by a soft yellow light glowing from the dorm floor kitchenette that she always forgets exists because this is a SHIELD base not a school campus.

And there's her partner, quietly flipping a pancake on the stove. An open carton of blueberries sits on the counter near his hand.

"Barton," she greets as she comes in.

He nods back.

She leans against the counter and starts to cross her arms against the slight chill, then gives herself an excuse for being in here and opens a cupboard to rummage for tea. She frowns and pushes up on tiptoes to scrabble behind the first row of boxes. So much for SHIELD kitchens being well-stocked.

Natasha sighs and drops the cupboard door closed, softening the thud only a second before it slams. Clint is watching her intently in that focused way of his, idly flipping out his pancake onto a plate without looking. _Show-off_ , she decides.

"May I have a few blueberries, please?" she asks politely, feeling almost embarrassed at being reduced to asking. She is used to taking what she wants and having it given to her because she was dangerous at the Red Room and the KGB and as a freelancer, and others gave way for the Black Widow. This man nearly put an arrow through her heart, and she can't quite bring herself to place him on a lesser footing.

He hands her the carton wordlessly after helping himself to a small portion.

It's nice, it's quiet, and something tense unknots inside of Natasha. They sit beside each other, eating and enjoying the silence.


End file.
